Doctor's Appointment Should Be With Doctor

July 28, 2000

Regarding the issue of physician's assistants, I think the original point has been missed. The original letter writer as not trying to minimize the importance or quality of service provided by these respected members of the medical community. However, I think he was trying to make the point, and the real issue here, that when a patient calls a doctor's office to make an appointment with the doctor, it is the doctor that they want to see. If it is the doctor's policy to let his assistant screen his patients for him, never intending to keep the appointment, then the patient should be notified when the appointment is made, not after waiting a week or two for the appointment and then again in the waiting room. Would you let the hairdresser's assistant cut your hair if the hairdresser was not available? I think not.